About ALLUMINOUS

After the great success of the first three editions of ALLUMINOUS, with around 45,000 visitors last year, the light art festival returns this autumn holiday from October 17 to 26, 2025.

ALLUMINOUS is a free festival. We are open every evening from 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM. The route follows the path around the Weerwater lake and is approximately 5.5 kilometers long. There is no official start or end point of the light art route. You can therefore begin your walk at any point around the Weerwater. Walking the entire route takes about 2 hours, but take a bit longer to also enjoy the food trucks and live music performances.

For cyclists: The best ALLUMINOUS experience is on foot. For those who prefer to cycle, there is a bike route, which partly differs from the walking route and is not as beautifully lit. Bicycle racks have been placed at short distances from the artworks where you can park your bike before viewing them. You cannot cycle directly up to the artworks themselves.

The shuttle boat: The shuttle boat runs between the Esplanade pier and the Hortus pier on the former Floriade grounds. Taking the shuttle boat allows you to split the route into two parts and walk half of it. Perfect for anyone who finds 5.5 kilometers a bit too far—and also simply fun to take a boat trip across the lake. It is not a sightseeing boat: you will be dropped off on the other side of the lake. The shuttle boat departs from the Esplanade pier on the hour (7:00, 8:00, 9:00, and 10:00 PM) and from the Hortus pier on the half-hour (7:30, 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30 PM). Tickets can be purchased at the ticket booth at the pier. There is no online presale. Full = full.

A unique artistic profile from Almere: Nowadays, there are many light art festivals. To avoid becoming just another festival in the crowd, ALLUMINOUS chose a unique artistic approach. Inspired by the strong quality of Almere’s theater scene, we decided to pair theater makers—put forward by local theater companies—with visual artists. This created a new field of work in which new forms of light art could be explored. The audience’s experience is central here: the light artwork becomes a theater scene to step into, or an object through which a bigger story can be discovered. ALLUMINOUS creates new forms of light art, with flair and spectacle in experimentation, in the hands of experienced theater makers and visual artists.

Currently, ALLUMINOUS collaborates with Almere-based theater companies Suburbia, Vis à Vis, and BonteHond, as well as with the Almere music ensemble Black Pencil. There are also collaborations with Kunstmuseum M. and Carte Blanche.

Accessibility: ALLUMINOUS works together with various advisors to make the festival accessible. Each year, we learn more about the wishes of our different audiences and review what possibilities we have to meet those needs. No later than two weeks before the festival, we will post the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) online, which will include information regarding accessibility.